Approximately one year in the past at the Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were ultimately awarded the official approval as the world of Formula One's latest participant for 2026. Constructing the team from the ground up has required a intense pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As the sport descends on Vegas this weekend, the team are aware the deadline is approaching.
The Race Against Time to Melbourne
At the last event of the championship to be hosted in the US, with around a hundred days to go before they make their debut for the inaugural time in Australia at the 2026 season opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean challenge, they are conscious there will not be adequate time.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the embryonic project in early 2023 not long after it was created, when the organization were without even an official entry. He has been at its heart from that point and gets a wry smile when thinking about the journey.
“You can have a short period looking back at what you’ve done and go: ‘Incredible, isn’t this fantastic what we’ve done in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the very next instant you realize: ‘Yeah, we’ve still got quite a lot to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Opportunity
The CTO achieved victories at Renault in Alonso's championship-winning years of the mid-2000s and was in command of engineering strategy at the recently formed Mercedes electric racing team, but no previous experience has been quite like the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a manufacturer-backed entry supported by the owner, GM, into Formula One.
“Building an Formula One team from scratch, when are you ever going to get a chance to do that?” he observes. “It is like nothing else. In an established team you won't have the possibility to change organizational mindset.”
With each passing day that passes minds are increasingly concentrated on the impending moment of truth in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“It's reasonable to expect that a brand-new squad coming in is probably going to finish last but just making it to the starting line will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal commented earlier this year and while Nick Chester shared this view he felt the squad had a statement to make as well.
“The first thing we aim to demonstrate is that we deserve to be there,” he says. “So we turn up and we function efficiently. We aim to demonstrate that this is a professional operation executing the correct procedures on the circuit. Once we’ve shown that our credentials are solid, then we aim to demonstrate improvement from there on.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Effort
In August they signed Sergio Perez and Bottas as their pilots for the 2026 season, a duo distinguished for their invaluable experience in operating at the sharp end in two top-tier teams, Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, and Valtteri Bottas echoed the attitude of determined optimism.
“Certainly, we’re realistic,” he said. “We have a massive task to do, and we expect probably a tough opening, because it is F1. But our goal isn't to finish last. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, this staff, there is every reason that we won't be able to progress rapidly to the front and enjoy some success.”
To achieve that goal recruitment has been in full swing, with personnel now up to over 400 and intended to hit the objective of 600 members quickly. Alongside their present headquarters at the Silverstone circuit, the squad are in the process of finishing an headquarters at Fishers, Indiana in the Indianapolis area and there is the GM plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are developing the plant to produce the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – in the meantime they will use Ferrari power units – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex organization, different from the movement in Formula One for increased consolidation, and has led to the innovative team culture to which Chester referred to.
NASA Model
“We've drawn heavily from the Apollo program,” remarked Lowdon just before the Silverstone race in mid-season. “We are pragmatic, we know how challenging it is. The schedules, are extremely compressed. OK, it's not a space expedition, but it feels like it sometimes.”
So they have embraced, as opposed to the usual hierarchical system, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of the space agency's, where there were a assortment of project teams all focusing on different aspects of the mission across a different facilities.
“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they report it to their manager, that leader talks to a supervisor in another department, it is relayed back, the process is very slow,” explains Nick Chester. “Therefore we enable staff to handle things directly. Moving away from management approval for all decisions is far more efficient and quicker.”
What Lies Ahead
The effectiveness of this agile methodology will be proven in the pressure of racing when the season begins and there is a considerable amount at stake for F1, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their development driver the emerging American Colton Herta
